Vacuum type street cleaner



Aug. 12, 1969 C. A- SHERRILL ETAL.

VACUUM TYPE STREET CLEANER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filled lay 29, 1967 INVENTORS: CLARK AISHEERILL LYNN M. BARNETTE AITORNEYS A1718 12 1969 c. A. SHERRILL ETAL 3,460,186

VACUUM TYPE STREET CLEANER Filed May 29 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV ENT ORS.'

CLARK A. .SHEEmLLand LYNN M. BARNETTE:

ATTOR NEYS` United States Patent O 3,460,186 VACUUM TYPE STREET CLEANER Clark A. Sherrill, 226 Heritage Place, and Lynn M. Barnette, 130 N. Academy St., both of Mooresville, N.C. 28115 Filed May 29, 1967, Ser. No. 641,889 Int. Cl. E01h 1/08; A47b 5/34 U.S. Cl. 15-340 8 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to street cleaners. More specifically, it relates to a mobile street cleaner employing suction to remove light litter such as leaves, paper and similar rubbish from street surfaces.

Accumulations of such litter on street surfaces is unsightly, and in aggravated circumstances, may be detrimental to the health of the citizenry. It therefore has long been the practice to periodically remove it from the streets, and a number of apparatus to accomplish such removal have heretofore been constructed.

The most promising of such apparatus have been those which employ suction fans mounted on mobile bases for transport over the street surfaces to be cleaned. These apparatus include open-ended conduits extending from the suction fan to adjacent the street surface, so that litter lying on the street surface is sucked into the lower open end of the conduit and into a suitable hauling conveyance for subsequent disposal, However, such apparatus has had serious deficiencies and drawbacks, and the use thereof has accordingly entailed problems.

Among the deficiencies of the aforesaid apparatus is the susceptibility thereof to obstacle damage. Frequently, litter on street surfaces conceals large obstacles such as bricks, large stones, etc. When a rigidly mounted conduit strikes such an obstacle, damage to the conduit is most likely to result. Moreover, the conduit must be moved clear of the obstacle before cleaning of the street can continue.

In recognition of this problem, it has previously been proposed to include resilient joints, such as rubber or composition sleeves, in the conduits. However, the open lower end of a conduit provided with such a joint is relatively free to wander from the path of movement of its supporting mobile base, so that steps must be taken to control the path of the conduit tracks.

In the usual instance, this base necessitated positioning an operator where he can see the conduit, and providing means by which he may guide the conduit during transport of the mobile base over the street surface. Since a second operator is required to operate the mobile base, the labor expense involved in use of such apparatus is high.

Another deliciency of such apparatus lies in the manner with which they cope with sudden major variations in street surface evenness, e.g., humps and holes in the street. When a street cleaner encounters such a variation, there is sudden relative movement in a vertical direction between the open lower end of the conduit and the street surface. If the conduit end is sufficiently near the street surface, it will make sudden contact with the street sur- 3,460,186 Patented Aug. 12, 1969 ricc face, imparting a sharp upward thrust to the conduit end. Unless this thrust is safely absorbed in some manner, it will inflict damage on the conduit.

This problem has heretofore been solved by either shortening the conduit so that the spacing between its lower end and the street surface is sutliciently great to allow for such variations without any contact, or by providing resilient joints in the conduit to absorb upward thrust resulting from contact. Neither of these solutions has proven adequate, since cleaning eiciency is significantly lowered in the former case, and the problem of wandering hereinabove described, inherent with resiliently joined conduits, is severely aggravated in the latter.

It is accordingly an object of this invention to provide a vacuum type street cleaning apparatus which avoids the drawbacks and deficiencies of previous constructions.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide a vacuum type street cleaner in which the suction conduit is so constructed as to be self-adjustable in length to compensate for sudden major variations in street surface evenness, and which is so mounted on a mobile base that it will follow the path thereof and yet may move relative thereto to clear obstacles lying in its path.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a street cleaner according to the present invention, shown mounted on the front end of a truck;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged horizontal section view of a conduit means in the cleaner, and is taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged vertical section view, taken substantially along line 3-3 of FIGURE l;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially along line 4-4 of FIGURE 3, showing the conduit means in elevation;

FIGURE 5 is an exploded perspective view showing details of a telescopic leg of the conduit means, according to a preferred embodiment;

FIGURE 6 is an assembled perspective view showing details of a modified form of the telescopic leg; and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged exploded view of a detail and corresponds to the portion enclosed within the dotted rectangle 7 in FIGURE 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, a vacuumtype street cleaner according to the present invention is generally designated at 10 in FIGURE l, and includes a suction fan 11 mounted on a mobile base 12 for transport therewith over a street surface S to Ibe cleaned.

Mobile base 12 may be supported above street surface S for transport thereover in any suitable manner. Preferably, and as illustrated, it is mounted on the front end of a truck T having a load compartment L conventionally arranged to receive and contain the litter being removed from the street surface S. Mobile base 12 may also support a power source, such as engine 13, to operate the suction fan 11.

Suction fan 11 comprises a fan casing 14 provided with a circular inlet opening 15 therein, and an irnpeller 16 rotatably mounted within casing 14 and drivingly connected to engine 13 for creating a suction at inlet opening 15. Casing 14 is also provided with an outlet opening (not shown), and material drawn into the casing 14 through inlet opening 15 is exhausted therefrom through the outlet opening. Preferably, and as illustrated, a suitable duct 17 communicates between the outlet opening and the interior of truck load compartment L, and material exhausted from casing 14 is delivered through duct l 17 to compartment L, where it accumulates for subsequent disposal.

In order to communicate the suction at inlet opening to the street surface S, an open-ended conduit means having a substantially horizontally disposed leg 21 and a downwardly directed leg 22 is mounted on the fan casing 14 and extends in a normal operating position illustrated in full lines in -FIGURE 4 from the inlet opening 15 to adjacent the street surface S. Conduit means 20'is pivotally mounted by its leg 21 to the fan casing 14, so that the conduit may swing in the direction of the arrow A-A' (FIGURE 4) about a substantially horizontal axis extending centrally of inlet opening 15 and transversely to the direction of transport of mobile base 12, and into a position out of its normal operating position, as illustrated in dotted lines in FIGURE 4. Such pivoting permits conduit means 20 to clear obstacles lying on street surface S. t

To provide this pivotal mounting, an annular ila-nge 23 is suitably secured, e.g., welded, to fan casing 14 about the inlet opening 15, and protrudes outwardly therefrom and substantially concentric with conduit leg 21. Conduit leg 21 is of smaller external diameter than the internal diameter of ange 23, and one end thereof is received within opening 15, as best seen in FIGURES 3 and -7. An annular flange 24 of larger internal diameter than the external diameter of ange 23 is suitably secured, e.g., welded, to leg 21 adjacent the end thereof within inlet opening 15, and defines with leg 21 an annular groove 2S which receives the flange 23, so that the end of conduit leg 21 within inlet opening 15 is pivotally connected to fan casing 14.

Preferably, and as illustrated, an additional pivotal support is provided for conduit means 20, and this additional support may take the form of a supporting bracket 26 secured to conduit means 20 adjacent the intersection between conduit legs 21, 22. Bracket 26 is provided with an opening 27, and an auxiliary frame member 30, supported by fan casing 14 and extending outwardly therefrom and overlying conduit means 20, carries a pivot pin 31 pivotally -engaging in opening 27 substantially centrally of conduit leg 21. Thus the conduit means 20 is pivotally supported within fan inlet opening 15 by the pivot pin 31 as well as by the annular flanges 23, 24.

In order to yieldably maintain conduit means 20 in its normal operating position, resilient means, such as upper and lower sets of tension springs 32, 32a, is operatively connected to conduit means 20 and resiliently biases it into its normal operating position. Preferably, a plurality of springs are employed, with each spring in each set 32, 32a, being connected at one end to conduit downward leg 22 and at its other end to fan casing 14 by a suitable bracket. Thus, the sets of springs 32, 32a yieldably oppose but permit pivoting of conduit means 20 about inlet opening 15 upon contact with an obstacle to clear the same, and quickly return conduit means 20 to its normal operating position after it has cleared the obstacle.

In order to avoid structural damage to conduit means 20 when its lower end is subjected to sudden upward thrust, as when street cleaner 10 encounters a major variation in the evenness of street surface S such as a hump or a hole therein, conduit downward leg 22 is constructed to automatically vary its effective length in compensation of such variations.

To this end, conduit downward leg 22 comprises a plurality of telescopingly mating portions movable relative to each other in the direction of arrow B-B' (FIG- URE 4) to vary the effective length of conduit leg 22. Preferably, and as illustrated, leg 22 comprises two such portions, with the uppermost one thereof comprising a duct section 33 carried by conduit horizontal leg 21, and the lowermost one thereof comprising a nozzle section 34 including a neck 35 telescopingly received within the duct section 33 and a flared nozzle 36 disposed below duct section 33 and defining the lower end of conduit means 20. The springs in the upper spring set 32 are preferably connected to conduit means 20 at nozzle section 34, so that, in addition to aiding in bia-sing conduit means 20 into the normal operating position, these springs also partially counterbalance nozzle section 34, facilitating the telescoping thereof relative to duct section 33 when nozzle section 34 is subjected to upward thrust.

Nozzle section 34 may be supported in telescoping relation with duct section 33 by contact of its undersurface 37 with street surface S, if desired. Preferably, however, and as illustrated, means operatively associated with nozzle section 34 limits the extended position thereof. Such means is shown in FIGURE 1 as comprising a chain 40 connected to nozzle section 34 and to a hitch pin 41 supported from fan casing 14 by one of the auxiliary frame members 30. Chain 40 may be connected as desired to hitch pin 41 to adjust the limit of the extended position of nozzle section 34 to suit varying circumstances of use of nozzle 36. Moreover, chain 40 may be used to maintain nozzle section 34 in a fully retracted position, well clear of surface S, when the nozzle 36 is not in use, as during rapid transport of street cleaner 10 to a new work site.

In order to further facilitate relative movement between duct section 33 and nozzle section 34, means is provided for maintaining them out of frictional contact with each other. Such a means is shown in FIGURE 5, and comprises a box 42 surrounding the lower end of duct section 33 and suitably secured thereto as by welding. Box -42 is provided with an exterior surface having a relatively low coetiicient of friction. Similarly, a cage structure 43 is provided surrounding the neck 35 of nozzle section 34, and is suitably secured to the nozzle 36 as by being welded thereto. Cage 43 is suiciently large in internal dimension that a space remains between it and the neck 35 of nozzle section 34, and a portion of duct section 33 and the box 42 secured thereto are received within this space. According to a preferred embodiment (see FIGURE 5), cage 43 may be provided with antifriction bearings 44 secured thereto at appropriate points thereon, which bearings are interposed between box 42 and cage 43 to engage with the low friction surface of box 42 and maintain the duct section 33 and the neck 35 of nozzle section 34 out of frictional contact with each other. This arrangement facilitates adjustment of the effective length of conduit means 22 by reducing the friction therebetween.

According to a modified form of the invention illustrated in -FIGURE `6, a cage 43 may be provided surrounding the neck 35' of a nozzle section 34. In this embodiment, there are no anti-friction bearings. Instead, the interior surface of cage 43 has a relatively low coeicient of friction, and this surface directly contacts the exterior surfaces of box 42. Adjustment of the eective length of conduit 22 is facilitated by the low coefficients of friction of the contacting surfaces.

In operation, street cleaner 10v is transported over surface S with its conduit means 20 extending from fan inlet 15 to adjacent street surface S. Litter lying on surface S will be sucked into the open lower end of conduit means 20 and accumulated in the interior truck load compartment L. Should conduit means 22 strike an obstacle, it will pivot into the dotted line position shown in FIGURE 4 against the bias of springs 32, 32a until it has cleared the obstacle, after which springs 32, 32a will return it to its normal operating position. Should a hump or similar sudden unevenness in street surface S be encountered, a sharp upward thrust will be imparted to the lower end 37 of conduit means 20. Rather than being damaged thereby, however, the downward leg 22 of conduit means 2t) will telescope to temporarily shorten the effective length thereof until the cleaner 10 has passed over the hump.

It will thus be seen that we have provided a street cleaner wherein the conduit means 20, while faithfully tracking the path of the mobile base 12 to which it is mounted, may pivot relative thereto to clear obstacles lying in its path, and is self adjustable in effective length to compensate for sudden major variations in the evenness of street surface S.

In the drawings and specification there have been set forth preferred embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being dened in the claims.

We claim:

1. A vacuum type street cleaner for removing litter from a street surface, comprising a mobile base transportable over the street surface,

a suction fan mounted on said base for transport therewith and including a fan casing having an inlet opening therein, and impeller means mounted for rotation within said fan casing for creating a suction at said inlet opening,

opened-ended conduit means operatively communicating with said suction fan and dened by telescopingly mating conduit portions, and

means mounting the uppermost of said conduit portions in said inlet opening of said fan casing for pivotal movement about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely to the direction of transport of said mobile base and mounting the lowermost of said conduit portions depending in a normal operating position from said upper most conduit portion to adjacent the street surface to be cleaned and said mounting means including means for restraining said lowermost conduit portion against rotational movement relative to said uppermost conduit portion, said mounting means permitting pivotal movement of said telescopingly mating conduit portions out of their normal operating positions about said horizontal axis and compensating variation in the effective length of said conduit means for permitting the open lower end thereof, upon contact with an obstacle, to pivot and lift to clear the obstacle While maintaining said open lower end in a predetermined orientation relative to said mobile base.

2. A street cleaner according to claim 1 including means operatively connected to said conduit means for adjustably limiting the extended length of said conduit means.

3. A street cleaner according to claim 1 wherein said lowermost conduit portion comprises a flared nozzle dening the lower end of said conduit means, and means is operatively associated with said nozzle for maintaining the same in a retracted position when in nou-use and for adjustably limiting the extended position thereof when in use.

4. A street cleaner according to claim 3 further comprising a flared depending skirt portion extending downwardly from said flared nozle and having forwardly diverging wing portions for guiding litter and the like on the street surface into the open lower end of said conduit means.

5. A vacuum type street cleaner for removing litter from a street surface, comprising a mobile base transportable over the street surface,

a suction fan mounted on said base for transport therewith and including a fan casing having an inlet opening therein, and impeller means mounted for rotation within said fan casing for creating a suction at said inlet opening,

opened-ended conduit means operatively communicating with said suction fan and defined by telescopingly mating conduit portions,

means mounting the uppermost of said conduit portions in said inlet opening of said fan casing and for restraining said uppermost portion to pivotal movement about a substantially horizontal axis extending transversely to the direction of transport of said mobile base,

means mounting the lowermost of said telescopingiy mating conduit portions relative to said uppermost portion to depend in a normal operating position adjacent the street surface to be cleaned and for restraining said lowermost portion to linear translation movement in a normally vertical direction relative to said uppermost portion,

said mounting means for said conduit means permitting pivotal movement thereof out of its normal operating position about said horizontal axis and compenating variation in the effective length thereof for permitting the open lower end of said conduit means, upon contact with an obstacle, to pivot and lift to clear the obstacle, and

resilient means operatively connected to said conduit means for yieldably maintaining the same in its normal operating position while permitting said conduit means to pivot and lift out of its normal operating position upon Contact with an obstacle, and for quickly returning the conduit means to its normal operating position after it has cleared the obstacle.

6. A street cleaner according to claim 5, wherein said resilient means is operatively connected to the lowermost telescoping conduit portion.

7. A street cleaner according to claim 5 wherein said means mounting said lowermost conduit portion includes relatively movable parts with low coeicients of friction surrounding said telescoping conduit portions for maintaining said portions out of contact with each other and for facilitating adjustment of the effective length of said conduit means.

8. A street cleaner according to claim 7, wherein said relatively movable parts of said means surrounding said telescoping conduit portions comprises telescopically engageable members and anti-friction bearings interposed therebetween.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,361,909 11/1944 Bernal 15-340 X 2,458,258 1/1949 Furr 15-340 2,663,894 12/ 1953 Elliotte 15-340 2,803,847 8/1957 Hobbs v- 15--340 X FOREIGN PATENTS 628,869 7 1927 France.

ROBERT w. MICHELL, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. l5-359 

